Salesforce offers several community user licenses for external users — customers, partners, contractors — each available in per-user (member-based) or per-login pricing. The major families are Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, External Apps, and External Apps Plus, plus some legacy and high-volume variants.
The main families
| License | Audience | Object access | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Community | High-volume customers (B2C) | Limited — Account, Contact, Case, Knowledge, custom objects | Self-service support, B2C help centers |
| Customer Community Plus | More privileged customers | Broader — sharing rules, role hierarchy, reports | B2B customer portals needing deeper access |
| Partner Community | Channel partners | Sales-oriented — Lead, Opportunity, Account, Contact | Partner portals, deal registration |
| External Apps | Custom external apps | Lightning Platform — custom objects + minimal standards | Industry-specific external apps |
| External Apps Plus | Custom external apps with sharing | Same as above plus sharing rules and roles | More privileged custom external apps |
There are also Lightning External Apps Starter and various legacy/portal-era licenses (Gold Partner, High Volume Portal User) that still appear in older orgs.
Per-user vs per-login
Each license comes in two flavors:
- Member-based (per-user) — fixed monthly cost per assigned user, unlimited logins.
- Login-based — billed per login event per month; cheaper for infrequent users, more expensive for daily users.
Pick based on expected login frequency. Quarterly-use customer communities favor login-based; daily-use partner portals favor member-based.
How to choose
- B2C / mass-market self-service → Customer Community (login-based usually wins on cost).
- B2B customer portal with case sharing and reports → Customer Community Plus.
- Channel partner portal → Partner Community.
- Industry-specific custom external app on Salesforce → External Apps or External Apps Plus.
Quick interview answer
“The main community licenses are Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, External Apps, and External Apps Plus. Each comes in per-user (member-based) and per-login pricing. Customer Community is the cheapest, suitable for high-volume B2C; Customer Community Plus adds sharing rules and reports; Partner Community is sales-focused; External Apps is for custom external apps on the Lightning Platform.”
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Communities User Licenses. Last reviewed 2026-05-17.